‘Worth the investment’: Alabama authorities say license plate readers are cutting crime

ARDMORE, Ala. (WAFF) - A man wanted in a double-murder and kidnapping in South Alabama had a jump start on detectives trying to track him down.

What he did not account for was a license plate reader, dotting major highways and interstates across the state, to Huntsville, where he stopped over for the night.

It wasn’t long before he was caught, and that’s exactly why more and more law enforcement agencies believe these cameras are worth every dime, even with concerns and lawsuits swirling over their use.

“A lot of stuff comes through this area, narcotics, things like that, at all times, right under your nose,” said Ardmore Police Chief Jereme Robison.

Instead of an Officer or a K-9 sniffing it out, license plate readers are doing the work.

That’s what happened for Ardmore police, getting a hit on a stolen car from Indiana and a man behind the wheel with no pants on.

The post on social media got plenty of attention, saying, “The hit came from a flock camera, smile, we’ll make you famous.”

“He said he was hot, so I guess that’s why he decided no pants, no shoes,” said Robison.

The heat gets turned up with the help of 33 Flock Safety, license plate readers, or LPRs, stationed all around the Town of Ardmore.

It’s part of a 90-day trial run, Chief Robison says has paid off, especially along Highway 53.

“It’s like having an extra police officer, all the time. I have to go to sleep, I have to rest, well, that camera doesn’t have to rest, and all day it’s just reading tags,” added Robison.

If that tag is already connected to a crime in the FBI National Crime Information Center database, a real-time alert is sent out to area law enforcement.

“The only time it’s going to flag a vehicle is if it is entered in the system like an amber alert, a stolen tag, stolen vehicle.”

Just down the highway, the city of Huntsville is five years into LPR technology with close to 100 cameras capturing plates.

“There are some misconceptions around license plate readers, people believe that it can be used to track you and it can’t, people believe that is its spy ware software where we are spying in on you, that’s not what it’s used for and it can’t be used for that,” said Huntsville Police Spokesperson, Sgt. Chris Jackson.

Dispelling the misconceptions still hasn’t prevented lawsuits. The city of Norfolk, Virginia, is facing a federal lawsuit from residents saying it’s a direct violation of their 4th Amendment right to privacy against unreasonable searches and seizures, claiming vehicles are tracked all without a warrant.

We reached out to Flock Safety, which Ardmore and Huntsville both utilize, about the concern:

“Case law overwhelmingly shows that LPRs do not constitute a warrantless search because they take point-in-time photos of cars in public and cannot continuously track the movements of any individual,” said Paris Lewbel, Flock Safety Public Relations Manager.

That 90-day free trial run for Ardmore PD is up in the month of September.

It wasn’t a hard sell to convince both town leaders on the Alabama side and the Tennessee side to spend the $3,000 annually for each camera.

The Town of Ardmore will have five hot spots moving forward.

“I’m sworn to protect my community. If I’m not out there, my guys aren’t out there, my girls aren’t out there beating the bushes and trying to stop crime, then what are we doing? That’s what this flock gives us, an extra layer for us to be protective and try to stop it,” explained Robison.

Jackson added that over the past five years, crime has decreased in the City of Huntsville by significant margins even as the city grows in population.

“Technology played a part in it, I’m not going to take anything away from the guys who wear this uniform who come in everyday because there are still skills associated with this job, no matter what you do but that technology has just made us more effective at what we do and in return, we’re getting return on our investment,” said Jackson.

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